Troy man gets prison for Valentine's Day robbery of bank where girlfriend worked

Ramsey Fakhouri of Troy was sentenced Friday, July 11, at federal court in East St. Louis, Ill., to six-and-a-half years in prison for helping carry out a robbery outside a bank where his girlfriend worked. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Highland Police Department)

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) >> An Oakland County man who needed money to buy his Illinois girlfriend an engagement ring is now headed to federal prison for helping carry out a Valentine’s Day robbery outside the bank where she worked.

Authorities say Fakhouri took part in the Feb. 14 holdup of nearly $26,000 from a Bradford National Bank worker who was stocking an ATM outside that branch in Highland, Illinois, east of St. Louis.

Prosecutors say Fakhouri’s girlfriend worked at that bank, was apparently unaware of the robbery plans and watched the holdup unfold without knowing her boyfriend was involved.

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Authorities say in court documents the couple’s relationship began a couple of years ago when Fakhouri met the woman at a Bible college. By early this year, Fakhouri was ready to ask her to be his wife but lacked a way to pay for an engagement ring.

The Michigan friends drove Fakhouri’s 2008 Ford Mustang through the night to southern Illinois — getting a $120 speeding ticket along the way — and waited outside the bank for it to open, at one point watching the girlfriend pull onto the bank’s lot to start her shift. She called to wish Fakhouri a good morning, unaware he was there.

Fakhouri, a graduate of Troy Athens High School, later told investigators after fleeing the robbery and heading home to Michigan, Alexander P. Gerth dropped him off in Indianapolis, where he took a Greyhound bus back to comfort his girlfriend.

Prior to the robbery, while talking with his girlfriend by telephone, Fakhouri put her on speaker phone so Gerth could hear her unwittingly give details how the ATM is restocked outside her bank branch.

The Alton, Illinois, Telegraph reported in February Gerth’s girlfriend recognized photos of the men on social media which led to Gerth’s Feb. 17 arrest in Macomb County’s Chesterfield Township. He pleaded guilty in April and will be sentenced next month.

The men were indicted Feb. 20 by a grand jury in the Southern District of Illinois.

Gerth admitted to spending $7,000 on guns and other accessories at a Jackson, Michigan, sporting goods store, using the stolen cash, as well as two iPads, according to court documents.

The federal bank robbery statute carries maximum possible penalties of 20 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, or both, and three years’ supervised release upon conviction.